Jennifer Leigh Catcheway vanished on what should have been her 18th birthday, June 19, 2008. That morning she called her mother about a family barbecue planned for the evening; the call was later traced by the RCMP not to Portage la Prairie but to Grand Rapids, over 400 miles away. Family accounts say she had travelled with her uncle, Charles Parenteau, and a cousin, Shawn Catcheway, and photographs place her in the Grand Rapids area that week.

Reports differ about her last known movements. One account says she was last seen getting into a truck on the Dakota Tipi First Nation; her uncle later told investigators he dropped her off near the Waterhen Junction on Highway 6. The family says early investigative steps were mishandled and key family members were not interviewed for a month. Her uncle and cousin were briefly arrested and released without charges. The RCMP classifies the case as a suspected homicide, but no remains have been found.

Her parents, Bernice and Wilfred Catcheway, continue independent searches across Manitoba, excavating landfills and remote areas and holding annual fundraisers to keep the search going. If anyone has information about Jennifer’s whereabouts or saw her around June 19, 2008, please come forward.